Who is the head of the household? Kim Robertson Human Development Programme, Secretariat of the Pacific Community

Presentation Background on the SPC, PICTs The misuse of the ‘household head’ Palau: re-defining the household head using wage and salary income traditional definition a closer look at head and spouse using all household members

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community Pacific regional organisation providing training and technical assistance from land, marine and social resources divisions – all PICTs are members (research a new mandate) Recently moved to joint country programming – 5 completed in 2007 – refocusing activities on PICT needs SPC Pacific Women’s Bureau providing assistance to PICTs to improve use of gender statistics PRISM regional Internet database

Pacific Island Countries and Territories 14 UN countries 1 NZ ‘affiliate’ (Tokelau) 1 UK territory 3 US territories 3 French territories

Mis-use of the household head Not ‘true’ head of household – more like a ‘household reference person’ PICTs: culture dictates that the oldest or highest ranking male will be the head of the household Matrilineal societies (2 countries; other ‘islands’) female heads normally nominate a male son/relative to manage affairs outside ‘culture’: husband or this person is usually the ‘survey’ household head ‘Relationship’ question not used other than for household head identification (edited but not used to derive family structures)

Palau – matrilineal culture Population around 19,000. Former US territory, independent since 1994 (Compact of Free Association Trust Fund, US major donor) Consists of more than 340 islands, of which only 9 are inhabited (south and north excluded from HIES because of cost and availability of administrative and Census data) Relatively ‘high’ development in terms of HDI (GDP per capita around USD6,000, high literacy, low-ish fertility, high labour force participation)

Sex of household head 28% of households headed by females High proportion of adults in workforce, low subsistence activity; other significant income is superannuation (social security) 3,838 households have income from wages or salaries (c. 80%) Using wages & salaries because this is related to person number … so can analyse using other variables such are relationship, sex and so on

‘Traditional’ definition of head BUT we know there is a high LFPR ‘Traditional’ analysis would say that women’s wage and salaries in households they head are 9% lower than males

‘Head and spouse’ definition of income When ‘head’ is defined by highest wage & salary income of head and his or her spouse

‘All members’ definition of income When ‘head’ is defined by highest wage & salary income of all household members

‘All members’ definition of income Average household income based on ‘traditional’ and ‘all members contribution’ 40% female headed

Further work Final edited data – ‘poverty’ datasets rather than ‘national accounts’ datasets Derive family structures / living arrangements Relate as many sources of income to household members as possible Check sampling and non-sampling errors DEAL WITH MAJOR PROBLEMS – National Statistics Offices do not have the capacity for this kind of analysis and are reluctant to release this data to researchers; Women’s focal points probably don’t know that this kind of data / analysis exists

Pacific Island Country and Territory National Statistics Offices Internet websites, regional summary tables (MDGs) can be accessed through Population and projection information is available from